Artists' Bursaries Announced

80 artists have received a total of £750,000 in bursaries of £5,000, £15,000 or £30,000 to support the ongoing development of their work through Creative Scotland’s Artists' Bursaries programme.

The purpose of the Artists' Bursaries programme is to support excellence and experimentation across the arts, screen and creative industries and to provide artists and creative practitioners with the time and resources to reflect, research and develop new ideas and work.

Leonie Bell, Director of Arts and Engagement at Creative Scotland and Chair of the Artists' Bursaries panel, said:

“We are delighted to be able to support such a rich mix of emerging and established artists and creative practitioners, they all demonstrate a high level of quality, imagination and ambition in their work across craft, dance, film, literature, music, theatre and visual art.

“The panel were hugely impressed by the volume, quality and strength of the proposals. We look forward to seeing how the bursaries will support the development of these individuals' practice and wish everyone the very best in taking their plans forward.”

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Open Project Funding is now open for applications and anyone interested in funding for development of their artistic practice should now consider this funding route.

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

Open Project Funding replaces most of the project based funding, including the Artists' Bursaries programme, previously operated by Creative Scotland. Open Project Funding will support a broad spectrum of activity including: creative and professional development; research and development; production; small capital requirements; touring and collaborations; festivals; arts programming; audience development, etc. Support will be available for projects of different scale and duration with the maximum period of award being set at 2 years. Awards will be in the range £1,000 to £100,000 (or up to £150,000 by exception).

Open Project Funding is a continuous programme, meaning that you can make an application at any time throughout the year and there are no deadlines. A full list of activities to be supported through this route and full details of the fund are set out in the Open Project Funding application guidance.

Creative Scotland established a process of peer review for the Bursaries Programme which provided a range of expert opinion to inform decisions. A Bursary Panel, made up of arts and creative professionals and chaired by Creative Scotland, was convened for each deadline. Its task is to review all the applications received and agree the final awards.

Creative Scotland is the public body that supports the arts, screen and creative industries across all parts of Scotland on behalf of everyone who lives, works or visits here. We do this through funding, development, advocacy and influence and we distribute funding from the Scottish Government and
the National Lottery.

We want Scotland to be a country where excellence and experimentation across the arts, screen and creative industries is recognised and valued; everyone can access and enjoy artistic and creative experiences; places and quality of life are transformed through imagination, ambition and an understanding
of the potential of creativity; ideas are brought to life by a diverse, skilled and connected leadership and workforce; Scotland is a distinctive creative nation connected to the world.